


Hey Mister, Can I Pet Your Dog Real Quick?

by fannyvonfabulus



Series: The Cavill Files [1]
Category: Henry Cavill - Fandom
Genre: And You Can Fight Me, Dogs, Dogs as Matchmakers, Drunken Shenanigans, Drunkenness, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Getting Together, Gratuitous use of dogs to flirt, Happy Ending, Henry Cavill is a snuggle monster, Kissing, Meet-Cute, Missing dog, Romance, Slow Burn (ish), Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Vomiting, but its ok, fluff and nonsense, no beta we die like men, snuggles, they find him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25145470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fannyvonfabulus/pseuds/fannyvonfabulus
Summary: Meet cute in the park because no-one can resist the Kal bear. Nor can they resist those fucking tiny running shorts that Cavill insists on wearing.
Relationships: Henry Cavill/Reader
Series: The Cavill Files [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821538
Comments: 38
Kudos: 230





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Gonna start adding my tumblr fic over here

“Excuse me, sir? Could I pet your dog real quick?”

Look, it’s really not your fault that you ended up asking to pet the huge Akita, it’s really not. He’s just so huge and fluffy and you can’t be held responsible for your ridiculous need to pet as many dogs as humanly possible when you go for your morning runs. You also refuse to apologise for the frankly awful little baby voice that comes out whenever you actually get to pet any pooch. You’re a shameless hussy when it comes to doggos and you’re absolutely _not_ going to apologise. You don’t even look at the owner of the Akita when you ask, just look longingly at the huge black and white bear on the end of the lead.

When you do eventually register that a human belongs to the big, fluffy pupper, and that the dog’s lead is, in fact, attached to a dude wearing the smallest running shorts you’ve seen in a while. And once you’d managed to tear your eyes away from the thighs that were thicker than a freshly felled tree, you realise exactly _who_ was on the other end of the lead.

_Hooooooo_ boy……

“Of course you can,” Henry Cavill, _Henry Fucking Cavill_ replies with a brilliant smile that could melt even the biggest iceberg. “And thank you for asking. Not many people do.”

“Well that’s just idiotic, especially with an Akita,” You say as you crouch down on one knee to get to the dog’s level, who looks up at Henry.

“S’ok Kal,” Henry looks down at Kal and nods, at which the huge dog takes a step forward to give the hand you’ve stretched out towards him a sniff. He decided that he likes what he smells and you suddenly have your arms full of Akita. You laugh as your arse hits the ground and you bury your hands in Kal’s neck to hold on as you get your face licked.

“ _OHMYGOD_ , you’re adorable!” You practically squeal, managing to find your footing again and right yourself, giving Kal a little push away from you to give yourself room.

“Shit, i’m so sorry!” Henry looks mortified but you wave him off.

“ _Pffft_ , if this is how I go then so be it,” You laugh as you continue to pet and scratch Kals big head. “I can think of much worse ways to go than being licked to death by the cutest doggo in the world, _yesyouare!_ Oh Yes. You. Are.”

“He doesn’t know his own strength sometimes,” Henry is still trying to apologise and it’s actually adorable. To avoid getting knocked over as Kal becomes a wriggling mass under your hands, you plonk yourself down on the running path and cross your legs. That seems to prompt Kal into planting his own butt on top of your crossed legs like he’s a lap cat and then looks up at Henry with a defiant look on his big face. You can’t help laughing into Kal’s thick fur at that. 

“Looks like this is my life now,” You laugh as you look up at Henry who has a big, goofy smile on his face. You wonder if you should point out that you know who he is, but he looks relaxed and you don’t want to make that smile disappear. “Someone should call my office and tell them I’m not going in today.”

“Kal, c’mon! You know better!” Henry is outright laughing now as Kal continues to look at his human definitely, the gentle tugs on his lead doing nothing to move the furry bear out of your lap. “You’re embarrassing me, you monster!”

“Aww, he’s not a monster, he’s just a great big teddy bear, _ohyeshheeish_ ,” And there it is, that stupid baby voice again. Eh, you’re already sitting on the goddamn floor at 6am with a giant dog in your lap, what’s one more thing? “And he clearly has taste, isn’t that right Kal?” Kal agrees by boofing at Henry and then twisting around so that he can lick your face again making you huff out a laugh. “Thanks for letting me pet him though. Always wanted to meet an Akita. Hope I didn’t interrupt your morning run too much?”

“Not at all. We just finished actually and about to head home,” Henry says, soft smile on his face as he watches Kal being a stubborn little shit. “It’s more your run that got interrupted.”

“Interrupted in the best way,” You grin up at Henry, still with your hands buried in Kal’s thick fur. “I love dogs. I’ve timed my morning runs when I know everyone will be out on their morning walks so I can get my fix of pettings in before work.”

“You don’t have your own?” Henry asks.

“Nah, not allowed pets in my flat sadly,” You pout and look sad. You’d have a dog in a heartbeat if you could. “So I just come here to pet everyone else’s. Not been adopted quite this fast before though!”

“He’s not usually like this,” Henry admits and that makes your grin wider. “At least, not this quickly anyway.”

“What can I say, it’s my magnetic personality,” You shrug and gently try to push Kal off your legs so that you can get up. As much as you’d love to stay here all day, you really do have to go work. Kal gets up reluctantly and Henry reaches a hand down to help you up off the ground. You take it and get hauled to your feet, trying not to blush at how strong Henry is. You drop his hand so you can brush off the dirt from your running leggings as you straighten up, and Kal sticks close to your side as he watches you and his human interact, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. “You guys here a lot? Haven’t seen you around.”

“I’m away a lot for work,” Henry says, face twisting a little, seemingly expecting you to figure out who he is. You keep your face as blank as you can. “But we always get out for a morning run when I’m home.”

“Ah, cool. You’re local then?” You ask and Henry nods. You stick your hand out for him to shake with a smile. “Y/N, it’s nice to meet you. And Kal of course.” Kal boofs at the sound of his name and you look down at him. “Yeah, like I’d forget you!”

“Henry, nice to meet you Y/N,” Henry smiles and shakes your hand. His hand is huge compared to yours, but warm. He holds onto your hand a little longer than necessary, and you’re thinking that this morning’s run is turning out to be a lot better than you thought it would be. “Well, we’d best let you get on.”

“Alas, duty calls,” You sigh dramatically, which gets another laugh out of Henry. You start to walk backward away from them both. “See you two around.”

“Kal says he hopes so,” Henry calls after you as you start to jog a little, and Kal barks after you in agreement.

“You can count on it!” You call back, then tip them both a sloppy salute before turning around and getting on with the rest of your run grinning ear to ear. 

It’s turning out to be a great day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is maybe a couple of months after the first and involves some last minute out of the blue dog sitting duties happening. And maaaaaaybe a teeny tiny bit of feels. Maybe. But only a wee hint ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse, the word vomit just happened. I regret nothing. I also have absolutely ZERO idea of what Henry’s house in London looks like. I’m just going by the background in some of his Insta pics and then making up the rest.

It’s been a few months since you first bumped into Henry and Kal in the park, and it’s become a regular morning thing, much to your delight, especially when Henry wears those teeny tiny shorts of his. Although yesterday, he’d been wearing running tights and that….that was an almost religious experience. Trying to school your face into something that didn’t resemble being thirsty as fuck was no easy task. You also have the biggest crush on him and you deserve an Oscar for being able to keep that shit under wraps, seriously. You’ve altered your run routine so that you start at the same time as Henry rather than bumping into each other when he’s just starting his and you’re just finishing. You use the excuse of changing things up to keep your runs interesting. If he suspects why he never says anything, and it means that you get to run together most mornings now as Kal bounds along next to you both. It’s nice. Just the two of you most mornings and Kal, making the most of the quiet park before it starts filling up with other runners and dog walkers. 

Henry caught on to you knowing who he is after the first week, and that had started out awkward. You’d put him at ease quickly though with a joke about being more interested in getting to pet Kal than him. He did one of those giggle-snort laughs and pretended to be insulted that Kal was your favourite. After that was out of the way, you both fell into an easy friendship, even if it was just whilst you were running. You wonder if it would be weird to offer him your phone number under the pretense of saying that you’d happily walk Kal for him if he ever needs a backup dog walker. You haven’t quite managed to find the balls to do that yet though, despite starting out every morning meaning to.

This morning you’re a little disappointed to see that Henry and Kal aren’t waiting for you in their usual spot by the gate into the park. He hadn’t said anything about not being around today, but you figure that he’s not obligated to tell you stuff like that so you just shrug and start your stretches. You’re sad that you’re not going to get to have any Kal cuddles this morning though. You’ve got used to seeing that sweet bear face in the mornings now. Oh well….. You stick your earphones in, take one last stretch, and get started on your run.

You’re half-way around the park when you think you can hear your name being called. You take out your earphones and yup, that’s your name. You turn to look behind you as you slow to a stop and nearly get taken out by Kal as he launches himself at you with a happy yip.

“POOH BEAR!” You grin and bend to pat his big body, and your face gets an excited few licks. Henry isn’t far behind, panting a little after it looks like he sprinted clear across the park to get to you. 

“Thanks for stopping,” Henry pants when he reaches you and you can see that he looks worried about something. Not that you’ve become an expert in the minute facial expressions of one Henry Cavill or anything, no not at all. You’re not _that_ much of a weirdo stalker……much.

“You OK there buddy?” You ask because his frown is only getting deeper.

“Yeah, I just…. I need to ask you a _huge_ favour and I don’t have your number so we came to the park to see if you were here,” Henry starts rambling and it’s then that you notice he’s not in his usual running garb but jeans and a hoodie. 

“OK, shoot,” You reply, hand going to Kal’s head after he nudges you with his nose.

“I need….do you think you could look after Kal until tomorrow evening?” Henry asks, clearly feeling awkward about asking. “I know that we don’t know each other that well, but Kal really likes you and the person who usually dog sits can’t because it’s such short notice, and you’re the first person I thought of, which is weird, but I’d be _so_ grateful if y…..”

“Dude, please stop before you hurt yourself,” You interrupt with a hand in the air before Henry can ramble any more, although the blush currently creeping across his cheeks is absolutely adorable. “Of course I’ll take care of the pig. It’s hardly a chore.”

“ _Ohmygod_ , thank you!” Henry exhales in a huge breath.

“One issue though: I can’t have animals in my flat,” You point out.

“I was thinking that you could stay at my place?” Henry replies, blush spreading and looking even more awkward. “I mean, if that’s not too weird? Shit, it’s weird, isn’t it? Wow, way to go looking like a total nutter Cavill….”

“As much as I want you to carry on tying yourself in knots, which is both hilarious and adorable by the way, it’s not weird,” You laugh because honestly, could he get any cuter? “I get to hang out with my best guy for a day, it’s all good. Right Bear?” Kal boofs happily at you when you look down at him. “And I can work from anywhere so…”

“Your best guy huh?” Henry gives you a lopsided and relieved smile.

“Damn right he is,” You grin down at Kal who’s doing that excited tippy-tap dance at the sound of his name.

“Can’t believe I’m jealous of my dog….” Henry mutters under his breath, not quite loud enough for you to hear. 

“Huh?”

“Nothing….,” Henry blushes again. God, he’s adorable. “Do you wanna come back with us now?”

“Sure, let’s go,” You smile and the three of you start walking back towards the gate to the park where you started.

**.oOo.**

“…..and that’s the key to the front door,” Henry explains handing you his set of spare keys as you both stand in his hallway. “Help yourself to whatever’s in the kitchen too. You sure you’re OK with this?”

“It’s all good, big guy, really,” You reassure Henry with a pat to one of his huge arms. “Me and Kal are gonna have a great time, aren’t we pooh bear?” Kal just looks up at you with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. “Order pizza, binge some shit on Netflix, have a house party….”

“Very funny,” Henry replies, but he looks relieved. “Thank you so much for this, really.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” You wave him off. “Happy to do it, honestly. And you’ve got my number now so if you wanna facetime the bear here, just call.”

“And if I _did_ call just to facetime with Kal….”

“Then your secret is safe with me,” You nod sagely and make the zipping your mouth motion then looking down at Kal. “We won’t tell anyone that Daddy called to facetime you, will we kiddo?” 

And dear god, did you just call Henry Daddy to his face?! The fuck is _wrong_ with you…? When you look up, Henry has a weird, complicated look on his face that you can’t read, and there’s a stunted silence between you for a few long moments.

“OK, well,” Henry eventually, seeming to shake himself a little and the awkward moment is gone. “I’ve gotta get going. You two behave,” He points a finger at both you and Kal as he picks up his overnight bag and keys. “I’ll see you both tomorrow night. Be good.”

“We pinky swear,” You say, laughing as you follow Henry to his front door to watch him hurry towards his car. Kal barks at him but stays sitting by your side on the doorstep, and with a wave, he starts the car and is on his way. “Right then pig, time to party….”

**.** **.oOo..**

Four hours later and you and Kal are sprawled on the sofa in Henry’s lounge binging Netflix nonsense on his huge TV whilst you balance your laptop on your stomach and try to get some work done. You’d quickly gone back to your own flat after Henry left so you could grab your work stuff, a change of clothes and your toiletries. Turns out that Henry’s place is only the other side of the park from yours, so it had only taken you about half an hour there and back. And Kal was waiting patiently in the hallway where you’d left him by the time you got back. He was so excited to see you when you got back, and it made you a little sad that you didn’t have your own pooch to come home to every day. Or your own person for that matter now that you come to think of it.

Right now, you’ve got Kal as a big, furry weighted blanket over the bottom half of you and you think you could get used to this. Although it does feel a bit…random being in someone else’s house with them not there when you don’t really know them all that well. You’ve been resisting the urge to go snooping around ever since Henry left and goddammit, you’re a grown adult, you are _not_ going to go creeping around Henry’s house like some sort of pants sniffing lunatic.

“Just a quick look around to get my bearings can’t hurt though, right?” You say to Kal who lifts his big head up when he hears his name. “I mean, I _do_ have to stay here until tomorrow night, so I might as well make sure I know where everything is.”

You nudge Kal off your legs and get up from your sprawl on the sofa, stretching when you’re upright. Kal hops down, looking up you expectantly wagging his tail. You take a few moments to look around the lounge first. It’s simple, and definitely lived in. The entertainment centre that houses the TV is huge, and Henry’s collection of games consoles is impressive, as is the ridiculous 70 inch, slightly curved OLEG television. You suspect that the shelving housing it all has been custom-built as everything has its own little cubby to sit in. Aside from that and the sofa and coffee table, there are some shelves built into the two recesses either side of the fireplace, and they’re filled to bursting with books and framed photographs of family and friends. The art on the walls is either framed movie posters or what look like paintings of local scenes, as well as a huge map of Jersey from around the 1800′s. Everything is in light, pastel tones of greens and blues with earthy accents in the soft furnishings. It’s cozy and homey.

Kal follows you as you make your way out into the hallway. You don’t bother with the kitchen as Henry showed you where everything was before he left. That’s in the same colour palate as the lounge, as is the hallway, off of which is a separate dining room that seems to be a continuation of the lounge in colour and hominess, a downstairs toilet, and at the end of the hallway is Henry’s office. Which is an utter shit tip. He’s clearly a shut the door and the mess isn’t there kinda guy, and you chuckle to yourself because the rest of the house that you’ve seen so far is immaculate. 

The stairs are gorgeous oak, and the wall up to the first floor is once again covered in framed photographs of family and friends from throughout Henry’s life. Your smile gets bigger as you take each one in. You come from a similarly big family yourself, so you know what it’s like. Kal stays by your side as you make your way up the stairs to a large landing. There’s a big dog bed against the banisters, and you open the first door to find a surprisingly huge bathroom. The colour tones upstairs are almost starkly different to the downstairs and a lot more masculine, which is apparent when you open the next door to the bathroom and find what you assume is the spare bedroom. Except there’s no bed, and the room is filled with more books and two huge, overstuffed armchairs. You get the feeling that not a lot of people get to see upstairs as this is clearly much more of a personal space. The colours up here are deep blues and maroons with forest greens and rich browns rather than the soft, muted versions downstairs.

The next door is open and it’s clearly been converted into Henry’s dressing room as every wall is lined with built in wardrobes and cupboards and each door has its own floor-length mirror. There’s a solid-looking chest of drawers in the middle of the room, and all the wood is a deep, rich mahogany, as are the floorboards. On top of the drawers is Henry’s collection of aftershaves and colognes and you can’t resist reaching for the one that looks the most used and taking a deep inhale. You sigh wistfully because it’s Henry in a bottle: woodsy, a little spicy deep and warm and just delicious. Before you get the urge to open one of the wardrobes and bury your face in one of his shirts, you back out of the room slowly, but not before you sneakily spray a little of the cologne on one of the sleeves of your hoody.

The only other door on this floor has to be the master bedroom you figure and even though the door has been left open, you hesitate. Kal, of course just trots right on in.

“Is it weird if I go in?” You say out loud to yourself. It’s not that weird, right? You’ll just poke your head inside and have a quick look around then leave. It’s Henry’s most personal, intimate space and you don’t want to feel like you’re intruding. And Kal is in there so you can just use him as an excuse. Walking in you’re hit by just how… _Henry_ the room is, and not just by the now familiar scent of him. The walls are a deep navy blue, which should feel cold and harsh, but with the deep greens and reds of the bedding, and the lighter floorboards, it feels…relaxing. The bed is huge, at least a super king, and like much of the furniture in the house is made of a rich wood, but it’s not obvious to you what kind. There are posts at each corner and a slatted headboard. There are a few rugs on the floor, all in the same deep tones, and Kal has his own bed under the window next to the radiator. Aside from the bed and two bedside tables and a chaise, there’s no other furniture in the room aside from the art on the walls. It’s then that you realise something.

“Motherfucker only has one bed!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doggo facetiming, sleeping in Henry’s bed and much drunkenness happen, along with a blatant use of 90s Budweiser advertising.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a little POV jumping in this one as i wanted to get Henry’s thoughts in too, and there’s a couple of time jumps too so that i could get everything i wanted in this chapter without it being too long.
> 
> Also, i’m an android bitch so i have no idea how facetime works.

You and Kal are back in the lounge, belly full of take out pizza when your phone rings on the coffee table later on in the evening, and it’s Henry requesting facetime. You grin and point the phone at Kal before hitting answer.

“Hey pig!” Henry’s voice comes through the speaker and Kal looks up at his human’s voice. “Told you I’d call. How’s my bear doing? You behaving for Y/N?”

“He’s being a _very_ good boy,” You say from behind the phone and you hear Henry laugh. Kal stretches his snoot towards the phone and snuffles at it, which makes Henry laugh harder. 

“I’m glad to hear it,” Henry says and you rearrange yourself with your head on Kal’s side so you can get in the shot too. Henry’s smile widens when you slide into shot and doesn’t that just warm you down to your toes, even if he does hold his phone like someone’s dad. And how can he look so fucking good even through a tiny, slightly blurry phone screen? “Hey! And are you behaving too? Not getting your best guy into trouble I hope?”

“Mr Cavill, I would never,” You gasp dramatically, hand on your chest in mock shock which gets you another laugh. “Kal has been nothing but a gentleman.”

“Uh-huh. And does that include not begging for any of the pizza I can see on the coffee table or….,” Henry raises an eyebrow and his eyes flick to the side where he can just see the edge of the pizza box behind you and Kal.

“He had one tiny slice of pepperoni, that’s all,” You reply, and Kal boofs in agreement jostling you. “See? Just the one.”

“Hmm…I’ll let you both off just this once,” Henry’s eyebrow does that thing, and he gives you a look that says he doesn’t believe you one little bit. But it really only was one slice.

“He had his regular, boring doggy food too,” You assure Henry because you’d really like to keep being his back up dog sitter. You stick your hand under Kal’s chin and smoosh your face to his. “And how could I resist this face? I mean, honestly….”

“Ok, point taken,” Henry eventually concedes. Surprisingly, you end up chatting for the next hour about everything and nothing until he yawns wide enough to crack his face in half, which reminds you…

“So um…you like, only have one bed,” You say, sitting up when Kal wriggles to get out from under you. “Do you have any spare bedding so i can make a sofa nest?”

“Don’t be silly, sleep in my bed,” Henry frowns at you through the screen like you just insulted his house. “I changed the sheets this morning so don’t worry, you won’t catch any boy germs.”

“You sure?”

“About what? Sleeping in my bed? Or the boy germs?”

“Both?”

“No, you won’t get boy germs, and yes, I’m sure that you can sleep in my bed,” Henry chuckles softly and gives you an exasperated look. “I don’t really have anyone come to stay with me other than…. y’know,so…I never quite got around to buying a spare bed.”

“Ok, point taken Cavill,” You roll your eyes at his attempt to say that the only overnight visitors he has are the ones who sleep in his bed with him. “I suppose I can slum it in your enormous bed with very expensive and soft looking sheets for one night. God, my life is so damn hard sometimes…”

“Anyone ever tell you that you can be a right brat sometimes?” Henry laughs and you can’t help the blush that you can feel starting to creep up your neck.

“Literally everyone I’ve ever met actually,” You sniff and get up off the sofa taking your phone with you. “Well, me and my best guy are gonna go pee then we’re gonna go conk out. He’s allowed on the bed, right?”

“OK, a little TMI there but ok..”

“Even the Queen has to take a shit Henry, everyone knows this.”

“ _Woah_ , ok….” Henry snorts with laughter this time, and you start walking towards the kitchen where there’s a backdoor out onto Henry’s garden so you can let Kal out to do his bedtime business. “And not usually, no. But he’ll probably get up on the bed with you in the night anyway.”

“OK, cool. He starts off in his bed then gets into your bed, got it,” You nod and let Kal out into the night whilst you stand in the open doorway. “Right, well…”

“I’ll let you two get to bed then,” Henry says a little sadly. You’re fun to talk to, more fun than he’s had in ages and despite the fact that he’s exhausted, he doesn’t want to hang up yet. 

“And you’re sure you’re OK with me sleeping in your bed?”

“Yes I’m sure so stop asking!” Henry laughs before another jaw cracking yawn takes over. God, he’s fucking adorable when he’s all sleepy and soft, it makes your heart ache. “Now go to bed!”

“Ok, Ok, jeez…,” You make a show of rolling your eyes at him. Kal comes trotting back into the kitchen and you turn the phone around to show Henry. “Say goodnight to your dad Kal bear.” Kal just sniffs at the phone and then trots off out of the kitchen towards the stairs. You turn the phone back around. “Well that was rude. I think he’s trying to make a point.”

“Probably. And I really should get to bed myself,” Henry sighs. He really does need to hang up and go to bed but…he also doesn’t want to stop talking to you. 

“Off you go then Cavill. There’s a big, buff guy waiting upstairs for me so we can get down to some serious cuddling,” You grin at Henry as you walk through the kitchen, picking up your overnight bag and turning off lights as you go then making your way upstairs. “Go sleep you big lug.”

“Ok, I’m going,” Henry yawns again and gives you a very sleepy lopsided smile. “Night Y/N, sleep well.”

“You too big guy, sleep tight,” You hit the red phone icon and sigh as you get to the top of the stairs. God, you’ve got it so fucking bad, it’s pathetic. You head to the bathroom to brush your teeth and the rest then make your way to Henry’s bedroom. Kal is already on the bed when you get there and you don’t have the heart to make him get off, so you just pull back the cover and clamber in. Scooting down and snuggling in, you breathe in deep and despite the sheets being freshly laundered, they still smell like Henry. You can’t resist wrapping the duvet tight around you and burrowing deep, wrapping yourself in the scent of him. 

“God, I am so fucked,” You say into the sheets, but not really finding a single fuck to give about it.

**.oOo.**

When Henry eventually gets home, it’s around 8pm the next night, and he finds you asleep on the sofa curled up around Kal, who’s acting as the little spoon, tail thumping away happily to see his human, but clearly too comfy to get up. His thumping tail makes you frown and huff into his furry neck and Henry just sort of…melts. His boy is so comfortable around you that he didn’t even get up to welcome his owner home, and that just makes Henry feel all sorts of warm and fuzzies. He takes a few moments just to watch you snoozing, smiling softly when you snuffle into Kal’s neck and he thinks that he could get used to seeing this every day.

“Can’t believe I’m still jealous of my dog…” Henry mutters, a sad little smile on his lips as he leans down to gently shake your shoulder that’s slung over Kal’s big body. “Hey, Y/N? Wakey, wakey.”

“Blluuggfiolgnof….” He gets in reply. 

“Didn’t quite catch that Y/N,” Henry chuckles and nudges you again. Kal hops down off the sofa and you roll onto your back with a grumble, blinking your eyes open to see Henry looking down at you. “Oh hey, you’re back! Just gimme a sec and I’ll get my butt into gear and outta your hair.”

“No rush,” Henry says. He doesn’t want you to leave yet and desperately tries to come up with a reason for you to stay longer. “I’m bloody starving. You had dinner yet?”

“Nope,” You reply with a yawn and a stretch. “I could definitely eat.”

“Then let me order takeout to say thanks,” Henry beams as he fishes his phone out of his back pocket and straightens up. “Chinese?”

“Mmmm, curry I think,” You reply. You’re in the mood for some Indian. 

“Done,” Henry opens up an app on his phone and orders an embarrassingly large amount of food. Not that it’ll go to waste given his metabolism. Then he goes out into the hallway and comes back waving a bottle of whisky. “And I got given this at the shoot I was at. Fancy getting a bit squiffy with me?”

“Hit me up bar keep, I’m down.” 

**.oOo.**

It’s 2am and you’re both plastered. Not blind drunk, but well on the way there. The pair of you utterly demolished the huge amount of food that Henry ordered and the coffee table is littered with empty take out containers and the Scrabble that Henry had dug out. It hadn’t ended well after you refused to let him use Superman as a word because you said it was cheating. He didn’t agree and had thrown a samosa at you that Kal had then quickly snaffled up, only to reappear an hour later in the stinkiest dog farts known to man. Then it had dissolved into a tickle war that had you both screeching and chasing each other around the house. Once you’d both exhausted yourselves doing that, you’d settled back down on the floor in the lounge and carried on with the whisky and swapping stories about both your lives. And now you’re both at that point of drunkenness where you’re laid out on the floor, head to head and staring at the ceiling and somehow managing to have whole conversations in nothing but grunts and giggles. You prop yourself up on one arm with your back against the sofa and peer down at Henry. He looks even more beautiful when he’s loose and relaxed like this: all sleepy blue eyes and lazy smiles. He lifts a hand to try and boop you on the nose and you snap your teeth at him, which makes him giggle. Then you have the realisation that you’re going to have to stagger across the park in the middle of the night to get back to your own place, which makes you scrunch up your face.

“Wassup?” Henry slurs when he sees your face.

“WAAAAAASSSSSAAA _AAAAAPPPPPPP_!” You slur back and then you both dissolve into giggles for about the billionth time since Henry cracked open the whisky. 

“S’face for?”

“S’jus’ m’face,” You snigger back and wave your finger in his face. “S’too far….”

“Huh?”

“M’house, s’too far,” You frown at him and wave your arm in the direction of the window like that explains things. Fuck you’re drunk…

“M’bed,” Henry frowns back, acting like he’s just given you the world’s best explanation. 

“Soooo _faaaaaaaaarrrrr_ ….” You make a dramatic show of flinging yourself across the sofa. 

“Noooo, m’bed…” What you don’t expect is to suddenly be airborne and slung over Henry’s shoulder. The world tips sideways and you shriek as you’re on the move, slapping his butt as you go and laughing delightedly. He pinballs off the doorframe to the lounge, and then the wall on the way upstairs to his bedroom, very narrowly avoiding braining you in the process. And then you’re airborne again as you’re thrown down on Henry’s bed before he flings himself forward and lands next to you face down with a muffled groan.

“Water,” You say once your giggles have died down and all you get is a grunt from the man next to you. You can feel the pull of drunken oblivion closing in and just sigh and give in to it. You know you’re going to regret your very existence in the morning but right now, the sheets on Henry’s bed are soft beneath you and you’re just the right amount of buzzed. With a contented sigh, you roll over and without thinking about it wrap yourself around Henry’s massive frame like an octopus with a contented noise.

“Like you in m’bed,” Henry mumbles into his pillow when he feels you wrap around him. “S’nice.”

All he gets is a grunt against his shoulder in reply and then the world fades into darkness as you both pass the fuck out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dear god the hungover awkwardness….. This is what happens when two awkward dumbasses have feelings for each other but have no fucking idea what to do about it. If Kal could bash their heads together, he would. But maybe he can do the doggie equivalent. Let’s see shall we?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s hangover time so THERE IS VOMIT. Also a lot of pathetic pining and awkwardness. Kal does go missing, and Henry gets upset BUT DON’T WORRY! Kal is completely fine and unhurt, i promise! Fluff and nonsense, gratuitous use of dogs for flirting,

Swimming up to consciousness the next morning is confusing, to say the least. For starters, you feel like you’re overheating, and your mouth feels like something crawled into your throat and died. Your head is trying to split itself in two, and your boobs feel like they’re being strangled by your bra. The confusing part is that you can feel a body pressed in so close behind you that there’s not an inch of space between you, and the bedsheets don’t smell like yours, but they _do_ smell like home. 

Your body stays motionless as your brain flickers into life slower than a South West Trains service to Waterloo. And of course, when your grey matter screeches to back to life, you start to freak the fuck out. _Henry_ is the body currently wrapped around you, nose tucked into the back of your neck and thick arms circled around your chest. Dear god, it’s not your bra currently strangling your boobs, its Henry’s huge forearm and hand. You’re also sure that you’ve drooled on the enormous bicep that you’ve apparently been using as a pillow. He’s got a leg thrown over both of yours, effectively pinning you to both him and the bed and fucking hell, that’s _definitely_ morning wood you can feel tucked up against your butt. You have just enough brain cells functioning to think _TIMBERRR_ before your stomach lurches upwards. Oh _fuck_ no, you are not about to upchuck all over Henry’s very expensive looking rug and polished floorboards. You take a few moments to breathe steadily through your nose and try to calm the fuck down. You’re both fully clothed, nothing happened, it’s all good. You remember a bottle of whisky, scrabble and a lot of Indian food and oh god, don’t think about food. How the fuck are you going to wriggle loose from Henry without waking him up? Kal rather helpfully does that for you by jumping up onto the bed and licking the bits of Henry’s face that he can reach. That just causes Henry to grunt and squeeze his limbs around you tighter and _ohmyfuckinggod_ , that is most definitely _not_ a gun in his pocket…

“Gerrofffkal…” Henry huffs into the back of your neck and you can tell the exact moment that his brain gets back online because he freezes behind you. Time shudders to a halt as you can literally hear the cogs in his brain working, taking stock of the fact he’s currently wrapped around you like some sort of overgrown koala backpack. He doesn’t know that you’re awake yet so you just carry on lying as still as possible and make sure that your breathing is as steady and slow as you can as you wait to see what he’ll do. To both your delight and dismay, he presses his face into the back of your neck and actually ghosts his lips over your skin in a kiss.

What. The. _Fuck_?!

Ok, maybe he’s still asleep? Maybe he doesn’t realise that it’s you? But then maybe….wait. You remember him saying something last night before you both passed out, what was it? Something about him liking you being in his bed? No, that’s not…but what if…You stomach doesn’t take kindly to the hopeful swarm of butterflies that have just kicked off somewhere near your navel at that moment, and you will the bile back down because you’re going to enjoy this while you can dammit. You’ve got a huge, adorable teddy bear currently wrapped around you that you’ve got a huge crush on, and why can’t you just have this? Just for now? Of course, that’s when Kal decides that the pair of you have been lying around in bed for quite long enough thank you and jumps on the both of you. Oh well, there goes that moment then…

“ _KAL_! No!” Henry grunts into your shoulders, then he’s rolling away with a groan and you’re back is suddenly cold and your stomach is lurching again and oh god, it’s happening. You throw yourself out of bed and across the landing, only just making it to the bathroom in time before painting Henry’s toilet a violent shade of whisky and curry. Well that’s just lovely, way to go you.

“Y/N? You OK?” Henry’s voice comes from the landing and oh god, he can’t come in and see you like this, but the bathroom door is too far away, and your stomach is trying to escape again. Then you feel a warm hand sweeping back your hair from your face, another rubbing gentle circles on your back and a solid presence behind you. “That’s it honey, get it all up.”

Is….is _Henry Fucking Cavill_ currently holding your hair for you whilst you empty everything you’ve ever eaten into his toilet?! How is this even your life?! You don’t even want to think about what you must look like right now because if it’s anything like how you currently feel then well, goodbye any chance of being brave and maybe asking Henry out for dinner.

“How are you not dying as well?” You croak eventually, pretty sure that you’re done turning your body inside out and flushed it all away. You slump forward against the bowl, but Henry has other ideas and pulls you back against his chest, knees bent either side of you to box you in. What the hell…?

“I’m a lot bigger than you Y/N, I burn through the booze faster,” Henry says and his voice sounds raspy from sleep. “Plus, you forget I’m a private school rugby boy, last night was nothing.”

“Show off,” You mumble, head thumping back against Henry’s chest. “But just so you know, I think I might actually be dead.” Henry pinches the skin on your arm and you yelp and slap his massive thigh, and then your headache comes back with a vengeance so you groan. “No really, I am actually dead.”

“Would coffee help?”

“I have no intention of moving anywhere ever again,” Your eyes slide closed as your stomach churns again, but you manage to keep it down this time. “This is my life now, I live next to your toilet.”

“Tell you what, I’ll go and get us both coffee and let Kal out, and then I’ll come back and we can sit on my bathroom floor as long as you like,” You can hear the smile in Henry’s voice and then he’s sliding out from behind you as gently as he can so that he can go downstairs. Before he does, he grabs a glass that’s sitting by the sink and fills it with water and then crouches down in front of you. “Here, get this down you.”

“Thanks,” You mumble as you take the glass. You can’t look him in the face, not yet. Not only do you feel awful, you’re confused as fuck about everything that happened over the last 2 days and your brain feels like it’s leaking out of your ears. And because you can’t look at him, you don’t see the incredibly soft, fond smile on Henry’s face as he looks at you huddled on his bathroom floor. You don’t see how he starts to reach out to tuck your hair behind your ear but stops himself. And you don’t see how his smile turns sad before he straightens up.

“Back in a minute. Try not to die until I get back,” Henry jokes and gets a grunt in reply as you slump back against the bath. 

Henry hurries downstairs to let Kal out to do his business, flicking on the coffee machine on the way through the kitchen to the back door. As he starts to get Kal’s breakfast ready, he thinks back to waking up just now to you in his arms and how _right_ it felt for you to be there. It’s like you slotted right into the space that he hadn’t realised was there. Having you in his arms just made everything suddenly make sense, like a puzzle piece that nobody knew was missing. And now, of course, he has no fucking idea what to do about it. He chews on a fingernail as he watches the coffee brew, trying to come up with a plan. He thinks that he should just ask you out for dinner or a coffee or something, just not right now because you’re clearly having an absolute shocker of a morning. No, he’ll wait for a better moment when you’re both feeling a lot more human and coherent. And when you’ve both brushed your teeth.

**.oOo.**

Upstairs you’re not faring much better than Henry in the confused feelings department. Still huddled on the bathroom floor clutching a now empty glass of water and listening to Henry in the kitchen downstairs, you try to get your shit together. There’s no way that Henry meant anything by snuggling you this morning, or what he said last night. He was drunk, you both were, and drunk people say random shit that doesn’t mean anything. And there’s no way that he could be interested in you like that. Not that you’re not completely awesome and gorgeous, you’re just not the kind of girl that he usually goes for, and that’s cool, that’s fine, you can dig that. It’s completely fine that you have the world’s biggest crush on one of the world’s most famous men and that you’re currently sat on his bathroom floor with vomit mouth and yesterday’s clothes on that you slept in. Clothes which aren’t exactly warm either. Now that you’re awake, you’re cold, but the bedroom and your overnight back are too far away. You spy a hoodie sticking out of the laundry basket within arms reach and tug it towards you. It’s Henry’s green Commandos hoodie and when you pull it on, it smells of him which makes you tuck your face into the collar and inhale deeply. That’s the smell that felt like _home_ this morning when you woke up and you groan because you are so fucking fucked if Henry already smells like that to you. You can hear Henry coming back up the stairs and the tip-tap of Kal’s paws, but you don’t feel like pulling your face out of the hoodie. Instead, you pull the hood up over your head in a pathetic attempt of blocking everything out.

“Did you die?” Henry chuckled and fuck, you’re wearing his hoodie. That just does things for him, all kinds of deeply possessive things. It’s probably a good thing that you can’t see him because otherwise you’d see a flash of something dark and predatory flash across his face when he sees you wearing his clothes.

“Bllaarrggh….” You say, muffled by the hoodie. Kal shoves his snoot under the arms that you have folded on your bent knees and his wet nose forces your head upright, which means that you can’t hide any longer. You look up to see Henry holding two mugs of steaming coffee and you make grabby hands towards one of them. “Gimme…”

“Glad to see you’re still alive,” Henry chuckles as he passes you a mug and then folds himself up to sit next to you, legs stretched out in front of him. Kal flops himself down on your other side and you use your free hand to bury your fingers in his thick fur. The three of you are quiet as you sit and sip at your coffees, the caffeine starting to work wonders on you the more you drink.

“Thanks,” You mumble eventually, bumping your shoulder gently against Henry’s. “So sorry you had to witness that.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ve all been there,” Henry smiles in reply and nudges you back with his elbow. “And you’re welcome. Think you could manage breakfast in a bit? I’m starving.”

“Maybe just some toast?” You reply, your stomach making gurgling noises at the mention of food, but not roiling with nausea. “Then I should go home and take a two day shower and sleep for the next six months.” 

“How about you shower here, I make breakfast and lend you some sweats, then Kal and I will walk you home,” Henry counters, desperate for you to stay as long as he can convince you to. “Sound like a plan?”

“Deal.”

**.oOo.**

After you’ve showered for way longer than you should have because Henry apparently has an infinite amount of hot water and a shower imported directly from Heaven, you have breakfast together in the kitchen then end up on the sofa watching Ghostbusters just because. The pair of you end up falling asleep and when you both resurface at some point mid-afternoon, the three of you head out to walk across the park to your flat. 

The next couple of days are spent catching up on work, and you and Henry text back and forth during the day. It feels like what happened almost a week prior has shifted something between you both. You can’t quite put your finger on what exactly, but it’s like there’s suddenly another layer to what you have with each other, a kind of closeness that wasn’t there before. Everything carries on as normal, including your morning runs together, but it’s just….different somehow. It’s like there’s a background hum of tension, something almost tangible but you just can’t figure it out.

You’re getting ready for bed about a week later when your phone rings and it’s Henry.

“Yo, H Cav” You answer when you pick up, a grin on your face because it’s Henry and lately he makes you smile so hard that your face hurts.

“Y/N, thank fuck you’re still awake,” Henry sounds out of breath and upset.

“Woah, what’s wrong, what’s happened?” You say, smile gone in an instant.

“It’s Kal. He got out of the house about an hour ago and now I can’t find him,” Henry says in a rush. “I’ve looked all over the house and the garden, and been around the park twice already but he’s not there, and what if he ran into the road, or ran so far that he can’t find his way home and I don’t know what to do and….”

“Hey, hey, it’s OK, listen to me.” You stop him before he can wind himself up into more of a frenzy. You pull on your running shoes that you keep by the front door, grab your keys and Henry’s hoodie that you’d left by the door to give back to him and march out into the night in your pyjamas and head to the park opposite. “I’m on my way to help you look. Meet me by the gate.”

“Thank you,” Henry’s voice breaks on a sob and that has you sprinting across the road outside your flat towards the gate on your side of the park. It’s dark and you didn’t think to grab a torch, but when you scan the bits of the park you can see, you find Henry running through the dark towards you. You open your arms and he runs right into them, clinging to you like he’s afraid that you’ll disappear too. He presses his face to the side of your neck and you cup the back of his head with one hand and hug him to you with your other arm.

“Hey, it’s OK, he won’t have gone far. He’s a good boy and he’s probably hiding in a bush somewhere, that’s all,” You try and soothe Henry, try to ground him so he doesn’t spiral further. “We’ll find him, don’t worry.” Henry pulls back a bit so you can finally see his face and god, he looks heartbroken. His cheeks are all flushed and his eyes are full of tears and already red rimmed. He looks absolutely distraught and is clearly holding back tears. “What happened?”

“I had the front door open to get some stuff out the car, and there was a really loud banging noise from the house next door and he just… he just ran and I… oh god, what if…what…” Henry really does sob then, face crumpling and you can’t help wrapping him up in your arms again as he cries into your shoulder. 

“Shh baby, it’s OK,” The endearment just slips out while Henry falls apart in your arms. It breaks your heart to see him like this, and you try not to let your own tears start welling up because one of you needs to stay focused right now. “We’ll find him, I promise. Why don’t you start on the left and I’ll take the right and we’ll meet at the gate on the other side?”

“OK,” Henry takes a shuddering breath in and pulls away from you, straightening up and rubbing his tears away with the back of his hand. “Sorry.”

“Sweetheart, you’ve got nothing to apologise for,” You give him a watery smile and reach up to wipe away his fresh tears with the sleeve of his hoodie that you’re wearing. Again. “You ready?” Henry nods and gives you a weak smile. “I’ll meet you over the other side then. Shout if you find him.”

Henry just nods and heads off to the left whilst you take the right, using the torch app on your phone to start shining into bushes. You call out Kal's name over and over, and can distantly hear Henry doing the same along with whistling for him. 

You must have been looking for about half an hour when you hear a rustle and a whine in the bushes in front of you, and Kal comes shuffling out looking very contrite, but seemingly unharmed.

“POOH BEAR! Oh thank _fuck_ …,” You close the distance between you both, throwing your arms around his fluffy neck and cling to him. “Where have you been?! Your dad has been going out of his mind.”

Kal just licks your face with more little whines and snorts when you pull back far enough. You fumble with your phone and hit Henry’s number rather than shout into the darkness as you don’t want to scare Kal anymore than he already is.

“I’ve got him,” You say when Henry picks up and before he can say anything. 

“ _OHMYGOD,_ where are you?!” Henry breathes on the other end, and you can literally hear his whole body relax. 

“Near the gate on your side of the park. Walk past it on your left and you should find us,” You say and you keep an arm around Kal to make sure he doesn’t do another runner. You can hear Henry start to run when he doesn’t hang up and within minutes, he’s skidding to a stop next to you and dropping to his knees to throw his arms around his dog.

“You fucking _arsehole_ ,” Henry chokes into Kal’s neck, hugging him close as the pooch whines and wriggles excitedly in his arms. “Don’t you _ever_ do that to me again, you hear?”

You didn’t realise that your own tears have escaped at the relief of finding Kal and him being reunited with Henry. You wipe them away with the overlong sleeve of Henry’s hoodie and laugh when Kal manages to push Henry over onto his back and starts licking his face in earnest. 

“You gave us quite the fucking scare there Kal bear,” You say with relief and reach forward to pat his big body. Then Henry is sitting up and pulling you in with one of his huge arms and hugging you close.

“Thank you Y/N,” He mumbles into the top of your head, and you hug him back.

“Hey, anything for my best guy,” You smile into Henry’s chest, feeling totally inappropriate for enjoying being this close to him given the current situation. “And for you, obviously.”

Henry barks out a laugh at that and you pull back far enough to be able to see his face. Time just seems to grind to halt then as you look into Henry’s eyes and see something there that shouldn’t be aimed at you, not by him. Your faces are only inches away from each other, and that weird hum of tension that’s been buzzing between you two for over a week now suddenly gets louder as you both seem to move towards each other in slow motion. If you had even half a functioning brain cell left right now, you’d laugh at how utterly rom-com this moment is, but you don’t so you just….go with it. It must be the leftover adrenaline from looking for Kal or something, but now you’re so close you can feel Henry’s breath against your lips and you think, _fuck it_ and close the last little bit of distance to press your lips to his. You hear a sharp inhale of breath, not knowing if it’s you or Henry, and then it’s like a dam has broken and your hands are fisted in his thick, brunet curls and his big hands are cupping your face and are tilting your head _just so_ and who just moaned….

The moment is broken when Kal startles you both apart with a bark and when you both turn to look at him, it’s like he has the biggest grin on his face. You can’t help the giggle that bubbles up in your chest and out of your mouth, it just happens.

“Yknow, I think that my dog might just be an evil mastermind,” Henry chuckles and leans his forehead against yours, hands still cupping your face and thumbs gently stroking your cheek bones.

“He’s a little shit is what he is Cavill,” You huff with a smile, hands still buried in his hair. “I mean, I’m in the park at 11 at night looking in bushes whilst wearing my fucking pyjamas.”

“Well I think you look very fetching.”

Kal just boofs at you both and you roll your eyes before going in for another kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of The Kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’M BACK! I would apologise for not updating sooner, but i’m not sorry. Life happened, other fics happen and writers block happens. I’ve actually already written and finished the epilogue/final chapter of this fic, and thought long and hard about posting that instead of this chapter and finishing this story. But then i had some ideas for a couple more chapters and i’d really like to try and write them. If that doesn’t happen then i’ll post the final chapter next with a little fluffing out to make it fit nicely.

Kissing Henry is pretty much the best fucking thing in the world as far as you’re concerned, and god _damn_ does he know what he’s doing. It started off a little frantic and heated, but he took the lead and slowed it down to something soft and languid, just getting to know your mouth and what made you hum with pleasure. His hands have moved from cupping your cheeks to one cradling the back of your head in one big palm, and the other has found its way around your waist. Which would be awkward if you were still in the same position you started in, but you’re somehow in his lap, legs hooked by your ankles behind his back. You have absolutely no idea when that happened or how, but you’ll take it. You’ve still got a hand in Henry’s thick curls, and the other is curled lightly around the side of his neck, thumb stroking the pulse point at the hinge of his jaw. If you’d both been anywhere else, you would have been quite happy to carry on as you are, but he pulls away from you when he feels you shiver at the chill in the air. It may well be the tail end of Summer now, but it’s well past midnight and you’re wearing pajamas. 

“You’re cold,” Henry states, not going far when he pulls back, just far enough that you can see his eyes without your own crossing. There’s not much blue left on those orbs, his pupils having long since swallowed it all, and his lips are kiss swollen and red, and oh my, that just _does_ things for you. When you shiver again, Henry pulls you even closer so that you’re nice and tucked up against his chest, his big arms curling around your shoulders. You tuck your face into where his neck meets his shoulders and snuggle in.

“It’s the middle of the night and I’m in the park in my jim jams, of course I’m fucking cold,” You grouse into the side of Henry’s neck and that startles a laugh out of him.

“Let’s get you home then, your highness,” Henry grins and then just… gets up off the ground with you clinging to him like a koala.

“Show off…” You mumble, holding on tighter but secretly absolutely _loving_ the fact that Henry just lifted you like you weigh nothing. He laughs in reply and starts striding off towards your flat, Kal trotting along beside you both, his lead very firmly wrapped around Henry’s wrist. You can’t help yourself from nuzzling into the warm neck under your lips, so you don’t and it gets you a rumbled approval in reply. Henry’s scent is strong under your nose and you breathe in the spicy, woodsy smell as deeply as you can. It smells so much better at the source than on a set of bedsheets. It also distracts you from the fact that in a few moments you’ll have to untangle yourself from Henry and face any awkwardness there might be. It's one thing to be kissing in the park with leftover adrenaline pumping around your body, but it’s quite another to be standing on your front doorstep in your pajamas after just having kissed each other for the first time. He stops in front of your door and you reluctantly uncurl yourself from his warm body, your feet back on solid ground. You take a moment, not quite able to look up at Henry’s face, then take a small step back to put a bit of space between you.

“Soooo…” Your voice is almost a whisper, fingers fiddling with the overly long sleeves of Henry’s hoodie that you’re wearing. God, why are you so fucking awkward?! You’re a grown-ass human being for chrissake, why can’t you look him in the eye? “Um…. yeah, so that happened…”

“Y/N, look at me,” Henry’s voice is so quiet you almost don’t hear it you’re so caught up in your anxiousness about everything. You take a deep breath, and with a gentle nudge of encouragement to your hand from Kal’s cold, wet nose, you finally manage to lift your head enough to look at Henry’s face. His eyes are soft and there’s a small smile, a hopeful one, tugging at his lips. “I’m not about to make this weird, OK? Believe it or not, I don’t make a habit of kissing people wearing pyjamas in the park at midnight.” 

You can’t help the giggle snort that escapes you at that, any tension you may have been feeling immediately disappearing. It also helps that Kal has kindly situated his big head under your hand as if he knows you need the reassurance. You give him scritches for something to do, but you can’t tear your eyes away from Henry’s. He looks so damn _soft_ right now, all heavy lids and lazy smile, and you kinda wish you were still wrapped around him like an octopus. And just like that, he’s stepping closer and reaching up a hand to your cheek so he can tip your face up for another kiss, and you feel your stomach swoop down to your feet and your knees turn to jelly because _damn_ , the boy can fucking kiss.

“OK…,” You manage breathlessly when Henry eventually pulls away and you’ve somehow managed to get your hands curled into fists in his Henley. Again. “So...what now?”

“Now we get some sleep because its the middle of the night,” Henry smiles lazily at you and pushes a few strands of hair out of your eyes. “Then I’d really like to take you to dinner tomorrow night. Or tonight seeing as it’s already tomorrow. Today.”

“Dinner like as in pizza at your place?” You say hopefully, not sure if whatever this is between you has ready for the Going Out On Date stage yet. Plus, Henry might not want to be seen out with you yet. Or at all. 

“No, as in _dinner_ dinner. Call me an old romantic, but I like to wine and dine anyone that I have a soft spot for,” Henry huffs a chuckle. “As as much as I enjoyed getting vegetable samosas all over my carpet and then getting smashed on whisky, I’d very much like to take you out properly Y/N. Can I do that? Please?”

“I mean, I _suppose_ I could do that, although it _is_ short notice and I have a _very_ full social calendar,” You sigh dramatically pretending to be put out about it and roll your eyes for extra effect. “I’ll have my assistant move some things around.” Henry just laughs at that and that makes you grin, which then morphs into a jaw splitting yawn that takes you by surprise.

“Oh, I’m sorry, am I boring you?” Henry’s eyebrow does The Thing and you both giggle, tiredness starting to push you both into that slightly manic stage. “I’d best take my leave then.”

“Yeah, _god_ Cavill, you selfish prick keeping me out so late on a school night, honestly…” You try and scowl at him but the giggles ruin that. “Some of us have nine to fives.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going….. You ready Kal?” Henry looks down at his pooch who, as if on cue, makes a show of yawning too. Then there are a few long moments when neither of you wants to take that step back from each other and break the spell of the night, but eventually, it’s you who does. “I’ll see you later?”

“Definitely.”

Henry leans in to kiss your cheek rather than your lips this time, then backs up with Kal.

“‘Night then Y/N,” He whispers softly with a small, happy smile.

“‘Night boys,” You murmur back, Then your eyes lock with each other for a few moments before Henry visibly shakes himself, gives you a smile, and then he and Kal are off into the night.

**.oOo.**

It’s no surprise to anyone that you get about two hours of sleep during what’s left of the night, eventually giving up because the butterflies in your stomach are refusing to stop. You’re too excited about what happened just a few hours ago, and you’re _way_ too wired about the coming evening to bother even trying to get back to sleep. It’s about 4.30am when you groan and kick off your duvet and resign yourself to getting a nap in later when you inevitably conk out. After pacing your flat for another half an hour, you huff in frustration and decide that you may as well go for your morning run now rather than wait another hour. It’ll also mean that you won’t bump into Henry and Kal if you go now so you can avoid any leftover awkwardness there might be. 

So of course Henry and Kal are in the park when you get there.

Kal gives you away by barking and running straight for you so he can get his morning fuss from you, which you happily oblige him with. Then Henry is jogging up with a big grin on his face that you can’t help but return.

“Hi!” Henry grins widely when he reaches you and leans in to kiss you on the cheek.

“Hey,” You know you’re blushing, you can feel it creeping up your neck.

“We couldn’t sleep so figured we’d get out a bit earlier for our run,” Henry shrugs as he pulls away and his features are soft and little sleepy as he looks down at you. “And maybe we might have hoped that you’d be out earlier too.”

“Yeah, same here,” You answer and god, he looks so soft and rumpled. It makes you want to run your fingers through his mess of curls, and then you realise that actually, you can now, so you do. Henry looks so pleased that you think he might actually start purring, and he leans into your hand a little... You’re not sure if it’s because there’s no awkwardness between you this morning, or because you haven’t had your coffee yet, but you’re feeling bold. “I think it might have something to do with being kissed silly last night by the boy I’ve got a really big crush on.”

“Oh? And who might that be? Should I be jealous?” Henry smirks and steps a little closer so that you can gently scratch the back of his neck, his eyelids immediately dropping to half-mast and you file that away for later.

“Uh-huh. Tall, dark, extremely handsome. Am _aaaaazin_ g kisser,” You continue, the boldness continuing and you step even closer, something that Henry seems to be more than on board with because he wraps a big arm around you as you walk your fingers up his bicep to his shoulder. “Total nerd too, which is actually really hot. And, he’s got the cutest doggo this side of the Thames.”

“Well, he sounds like quite the catch,” Henry murmurs as he looks into your eyes and not caring who sees, you push into his space the last little bit so that you’re pressed against as much of him that’s decent given the fact that you’re out in a public space. “You’re a very lucky girl.”

“I am,” You nod and then just because you can, you lean in the rest of the way and press a kiss to his sinfully gorgeous lips, delighting in the fact that Henry seems to be on the same page and kisses back. You both get lost in each other for long moments until you both hear the bark of another dog in the park. You reluctantly pull away, but Henry doesn’t let you go far and keeps you in the circle of his arm not holding onto Kal’s lead.

“So, still on for dinner later then?”

“Does the pope shit in the woods? Wait…..” You frown because that’s not what you meant to say, _at all_. Henry just looks at you for a few seconds and then his face creases with laughter. “Oh shut up, you know what i meant.”

“I think _someone_ needs to have their coffee this morning,” Henry wipes away a tear and manages to compose himself and you swat his arm with a scowl. “Why don’t you go home and caffeinate and we’ll see you later?”

“That’s actually an excellent plan. Not sure why I even bothered thinking that going for a run was a good idea,” You sigh and step out of Henry’s embrace for the second time in about 6 hours. “Might even treat myself to a sofa nap. Need to get my beauty sleep before my hot date tonight.”

“I’m jealous. I need to get my cardio in and then it’s phonecalls and practicing lines,” Henry grimaces a little but then shrugs it off. Then there’s that soft smile again when he looks at you. “I’m looking forward to later. Today is going to go so slowly.”

“Me too,” You feel your cheeks flush and take another step back or you’ll never get anything done today. “What time shall I be ready and where shall I meet you?”

“Hmmm…...Seven. And I’ll meet you at your door.”

“Ok. Later then?”

“It’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also want to add something else whilst i’m here. I try my damndest when i’m writing to leave my OC as ambiguous as possible. Why? Because i want anyone who reads my Reader fics to be able to slot themselves into the Reader character, regardless of gender, race, size or colour. I’m trying to learn how that will translate into any smut i might write, but i’m working on it. Any descriptions of body type, colour, pronouns etc i try to leave as vague as i can. If anyone has any hint or tips to help me improve on that please feel free to DM me on tumbles about it: fishcustardandclintbarton.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner and a whole lotta smoochin’. And maybe some snuggles. Definitely a lil’ first date awkwardness. Only a cameo by Kal Bear in this chapter tho, soz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m touch starved. I also think that a lot of the reason that Hank’s subconscious likes to always be touching an SO is because he is too. Think about it: he gets touched a lot doing what he does, but how many of those people actually see Henry? Anyway, that’s where the angst is in this chapter.

By the time the evening rolls around, you’re a bundle of overexcited nerves. After getting home earlier, you’d gone straight back to bed for a few hours. After seeing Henry and Kal in the park and there being no awkwardness, sleep had crept up and blindsided you as soon as you’d got home. That of course meant that when you woke up at lunchtime you’d been disorientated and bleary-eyed. Before your excitement for the coming evening could get the better of you, you wolfed down an enormous brunch and got a few hours of work done before you’d decided to abandon any hope of being productive and started to get ready for the evening.

Which was in itself, a nightmare. 

Henry has seen you drunk off your arse, he’s seen you emptying your stomach into his toilet, and he’s seen you sweaty and gross after a morning run, so you want to look nice for dinner. But what to wear? Where is he taking you? Do you need to dress fancy? Or will jeans do? In the end, you settle for something that isn’t running gear or sweats and make your hair look presentable. Henry is coming to pick you up, so if he’s dressed all fancy, at least you can quickly get changed into something smarter. Before you can pace your lounge anymore and wear a groove into the carpet, your doorbell rings, and your heart is suddenly in your throat. You try your hardest not to run to the door, and when you open it, Henry is standing on your doorstep holding a dozen red roses and a soft smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey Y/N,” Henry smiles at you, and you’re very glad to see that he’s not wearing a fancy suit, just some dark jeans and one of his incredibly soft-looking button-downs in a pale blue that brings out his eyes. It makes you glad of your own choice of your nicest jeans and a soft v-neck jumper. “You look lovely.”

“Why thank you Mr Cavill,” You grin and bow jokingly, which makes Henry laugh as he offers you the roses and you make a show of clutching your chest and batting your eyelashes. “I do declare sir, roses on our first date? How romantic! I may swoon.”

“Then I shall catch you m’lady,” Henry grins back, bows in return, and then motions to the outside. “Shall we?”

“We shall,” You answer, carefully laying the roses on the small table by your front door before pulling it closed behind you. Henry offers you his arm, and you link your own with him as you start walking. “And where might you be taking me this evening?”

“That little Italian place around the corner. It’s my favourite place to eat when I’m at home. You know it?” Henry asks as you press a little closer as you walk because you can do that now.

“I do actually. On the corner, right? The one slightly off the main road?” You answer, smile growing because you love that place too. “Nonna’s cannoli is the best I’ve had outside of Sicily.”

“You‘ve been to Sicily? I _ adore _ Italy,” Henry sighs dreamily. “Where else have you been?”

And then you’re both lost in talk of Italy and how much you both love it there that you barely notice when you get to the restaurant and get ushered into a quiet table near the back. The evening goes on like that, and the pair of you never seem to run out of topics to talk about, one subject running into the next. Henry listens intently when he asks about your job and your family, never breaking eye contact unless he has to cut up his food, and then he does that adorable little head tilt of his, pushing his ear towards you to show that he’s listening even if he’s not looking at you. You ask him about his own family, and about the projects that he’s working on and the rest of the world just seems to fall away. It’s nothing but the two of you and the delicious food and you want to stay in this perfect bubble forever you think. There’s an ease between you both, a connection that feels deep, old in the way that it feels as though it stretches much further back than the few months you’ve known each other. If you believed in such things, you’d say that it felt as though this isn’t the first time you’ve known each other. It’s almost as if you’re….reconnecting with each other somehow after a long time apart. It’s an exciting yet terrifying feeling as you haven’t known each other long enough to be feeling things like that.

“Hey, you OK?” Henry asks, interrupting the start of a panic spiral by putting one of his big hands over yours on the table, and he’s looking at you with a slightly worried expression.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” You give your head a little shake, but then think fuck it. “It’s just...OK, this is probably gonna sound completely bonkers but… I feel like I’ve known you for ages? Does that make sense?”

“Makes perfect sense actually,” Henry’s smile is soft as he starts to rub his thumb back and forth over the side of your hand. “It feels… easy between us? Not sure that easy is the right word, but I  _ do _ now what you mean.”

Relief washes over you now that you know he feels the same strange, familiar feeling when you’re around each other, and you smile back and turn your hand on the table to link your fingers with his and give them a squeeze. Henry makes no move to disentangle himself, so you leave your hand there and you both carry on eating one-handed. It’s….nice. But it’s more than that, it makes the butterflies in your stomach go into overdrive the more time you spend with Henry. And something you’ve noticed is that he’s a toucher. It’s something that you started to be aware of as you’ve both got to know more and more about each other over the past months, but now you both know you’re into each other, you’ve become hyper-aware of it. Like now, for instance, his hand over yours and his thumb still absently stroking over yours. On the walk to the restaurant earlier when you had you arm looped through his, he never took his other hand off the one you had resting on his arm, When you walked into the restaurant, he moved his hand to the small of your back, When you were both seated at your table, one of his feet sought out yours under the table. There’s always a constant point of contact between you both and now that you’re aware of it, you can’t get enough. If you had to admit it to yourself, it makes you realise just how long it’s been since you had someone touch you like Henry is, and just how touch starved you really are. It makes your face flush with a little embarrassment at how needy you feel right now. If Henry notices, he doesn’t say anything, thank fuck. 

As dinner goes on, the conversation is easy but starts to fade a little as heated looks and knowing smiles fill in the comfortable silences between you both, hands still entwined on the table, and both of your feet doing the same under it. With each glance, the tension ratchets higher and the air seems to get thicker. Your entire world narrows down to those heated blue eyes, Henry’s soft smile on plush lips, the timbre of his voice sending sparks skittering up and down your spine. 

“Do you um….do you wanna get outta here?” You say eventually, unable to stand watching Henry lick any more mascarpone from his lips unless you want to embarrass yourself by clambering across the table to lick it off for him. Henry looks startled for a few seconds before he’s putting his fork down and standing up at the same time. You laugh and pull him back down, and he sits back down. “Easy there tiger, we need the bill first.”

Henry chuckles and his cheeks flush adorably as he waves to the waitress and makes the universal sign for ‘ _ Can I Please Have The Bill _ ’’. She nods back with a smile and disappears. She comes back to you and Henry staring at each other across the table and puts the bill down before beating a hasty retreat. Henry snatches it up before you can, glances at it before pulling out his wallet, and throwing more than enough notes to cover the bill on the table as he gets up and tugs your hand for you to follow. You laugh again as Henry practically drags you through the restaurant after him, pausing briefly to thank the waitress before you’re both out of the door and into the cool evening air. You take the opportunity to pull Henry towards you and reach up to kiss the taste of Sicilian lemon cheesecake from his lips. He makes a surprised little noise, but then gets on board and is kissing you back just as fiercely right there on the pavement outside the restaurant.

“Been wanting to do that since you started eating that damn cheesecake,” You breathe when you have to pull away for air. “Have you got  _ any _ idea how many damn times you lick your lips when you eat?”

“I did not, no. But I’m not sorry if this is what happens whenever I eat dessert,” Henry chuckles breathlessly as he tucks his thumbs into the waistband at the back of your jeans while he holds you against him, lips brushing yours as he smiles. “Might even eat it more often.”

You just groan and go in for more kisses, losing yourself in the slick slide of Henry’s against yours, the taste of lemon and red wine one that you won’t be forgetting in a hurry. Henry doesn’t seem to be even remotely bothered that you’re both still standing on the pavement for all the world to see. You’re sure you hear at least one artificial click of a picture being taken on a phone, but right now you can't give two shits. Henry is solid and warm against you and if he doesn’t care about other people then neither do you. You’ll deal with it if and when you have to.

“Your place or mine,” You say breathlessly when you eventually pull away only to groan a little when you see how kiss swollen Henry’s lips are.

“Mine,” Henry answers equally as breathless as his eyes flick between your own lips and your eyes, his hands moving to your hips to squeeze you there. “I’ll need to let Kal out at some point.”

“Sounds good to me,” You’re pretty sure that your ensuing grin is positively feral judging by the fact that Henry's breath catches in his throat. Not wasting any more time, you take one of his hands in yours and start to march off in the direction of Henry’s place and you hear him laugh at the frustrated noise you make when 250lbs of solid muscle proves harder to drag behind you than you’d anticipated. 

**.oOo.**

You’re not sure what you did for this to be your life now, but being stretched out on Henry’s sofa with said man that you’re straddling is currently squirming underneath you while you kiss down the side of his neck is not something you’d thought would ever happen. You’re also extremely glad that you’ve always made a point of putting out as much good, positive karma out into the world as you can because right now, at this moment, boy is it paying the fuck off. You don’t think you’ve ever been with a guy quite as responsive as Henry and it’s...doing things to you. The minute you’d got through his front door (which was after he pressed you up against the outside of it and kissed you breathless for 20 minutes), you’d stumbled into his living room, unable to stop touching and kissing, and then fallen onto the sofa together to carry on making out like a couple of teenagers. You’re pretty sure that his shirt is missing a few buttons after you got annoyed that he wasn’t unbuttoning it fast enough, and your jumper is….somewhere in the room. The camisole you had on underneath is now rucked up under your boobs, and you’ve just got your hands on the belt of Henry’s jeans when you feel one of his big hands cover both of yours to stop you. You raise your eyebrows in question, worried that you’ve overstepped. 

“Stay,” Henry murmurs, suddenly sounding shy. You lean back to sit on the top of Henry’s thighs and he takes both of your hands in his. There’s a flush creeping down his neck to his chest that isn’t from making out on the sofa. You can’t help frowning a little because that seems that perhaps you  _ were _ moving a bit too fast for him, considering that you’ve only just been out for dinner for the first time. “Stay the night?”

“Putting out on the first date Cavill?” You go for teasing hoping that Henry won’t take it the wrong way, which is exactly what happens judging by the look that flits across his face. 

Shit.

“I don’t mean… not…,” Henry scrubs a hand through his curls with a heavy sigh, and he looks shy all of a sudden. “I mean, I  _ do  _ want you. Christ, how could I not…” And the blush is back as you both look down at the tent in the front of his jeans. “I’m just… I’m not like that, y’know? I just want to take it slower, if that’s OK? Get to know you more.” 

“No, I get it. And I'm sorry if I came on a bit strong,” You sigh a little, but bring one of Henry’s hands up to your mouth to kiss his knuckles. “Would you rather I went home?”

“NO! No, stay. Please?” Henry sits up then but keeps you in his lap. “Stay the night and we can...I mean...can we….never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” You can feel your heart start to pound in your chest because now you’re afraid that you’re fucking this up before it’s even started. “Tell me? Please?”

“Can we just...I just want to hold you while we fall asleep,” Henry whispers and he can’t quite look you in the eyes when he says it, the blush obvious high on his cheeks. 

“ Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill , are you...are you asking me if I want to  _ snuggle _ ?” You smile softly because you just  _ cannot _ with this idiot. Henry takes a deep breath and then drags his eyes up to meet yours, the vulnerability clear for you to see. You suspect that not many people get to see this side of him, not like this. 

Henry looks embarrassed now that you’ve said it out loud, and your heart clenches because he suddenly looks so small, which is ridiculous given how massive he is, and you want to wrap him up in your arms and never let go. Which you realise is actually something that you can do now, it’s allowed. You don’t say anything else, just get up off the sofa and hold out your hand for Henry to take. He looks up at you and hesitates for just a few moments before he takes your hand and you pull him up to stand, and then start to pull him towards the stairs. You don’t let go until you get into his bedroom and the side of his bed, where you drop his hand to get a hold of his waist and pull him into your arms. He goes willingly and you feel him melt against you with a contented sigh against your neck. You stand like that for a little while, Kal padding into the room at some point and jumping up onto the bed and flopping down with a huff, annoyed that he hasn’t had any attention from either of you since you got back to Henry’s place.

“Do you have a spare toothbrush?” You murmur into Henry’s neck after a while and he pulls away from you a little so that he can see your face. He looks so soft and content in a way you haven’t seen before and it makes your heart flutter knowing that you put that look on his face. He nods at your question and bustles you out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. 

**.oOo.**

Henry is already under the covers when you get into bed, and you clamber in next to him and settle down facing him.

“Hey you,” You say with a soft smile.

“Hey.”

“Do you wanna be little spoon?” You ask and Henry’s eyes crinkle when he smiles before he rolls over so that you can scoot in nice and close and wrap him as much of his massive bulk up in your arms as possible. You throw your leg over his hip for good measure so that he’s really cradled against you, and nuzzle into the back of his neck. “This ok?”

“This is perfect,” Henry sighs, lacing his fingers with yours and pulling your joined hands to his mouth to kiss your knuckles. “Thanks for not judging.”

“Never gonna judge you for wanting any kind of intimacy, especially not snuggles,” You say into his neck and squeeze him a little tighter. “I get the feeling that you’re a little….touch starved?”

“It’s just… doing my job, I get touched  _ a lot _ ,” Henry says quietly, so softly that you have to strain a little to hear him. “Hair, makeup, costume adjustments, over-enthusiastic fans… But they’re all touching me because of who I am, not  _ who I am _ . Does that make any sense?”

“I think so?” You reply because you think you get what he’s saying. “Like, it’s impersonal, perfunctory. They’re touching Henry Cavill, not  _ Henry _ . There’s no… it's not...there’s no  _ emotional _ connection to it?”

“Yeah,” Henry breathes out sounding relieved that you understand, and wriggles back even closer if that’s possible. “I like to feel connected to the people I care about, but doing my job, I don’t always get a lot of time to be around those people.”

“That sounds kinda lonely. Is that why you’re so tactile with everyone, you want to feel a connection, any kind of connection?” You say as the realisation comes to you and your heart breaks a little at the thought that this wonderful, soft, giant of a man in your arms could feel so lonely when constantly surrounded by people. 

“I’ve never actually thought of it like that,” Henry says after a long pause. “God, that makes me sound like such a pretentious prick.”

“No, it sounds like someone with a lot of love and affection to give who can’t always give it,” You reply, trying not to sound too stern. “I’ve not known you all that long, but I  _ do _ know that you’re a sweetheart and just a giant, squishy softy. And there is absolutely  _ nothing _ wrong with wanting intimacy with other human beings, platonic, romantic, or otherwise. In fact, I think that makes you about as far from being a pretentious prick as possible.”

Henry doesn’t say anything, just wriggles back into the curve of your body even more and you do the only thing you can, which is smush your face into the back of his neck and squeeze all your limbs around him as tight as you can because apparently, you’re now a bed octopus. It gets you a low hum of approval that has you smiling against Henry’s skin and you can’t help letting your lips brush over the bit of his skin that you can reach. Kal chooses that moment to clamber up on the bed and flop down against your back with a huff so that you’re sandwiched between your two favourite boys, and you feel a deep contentment start to settle in your bones.

“A girl could get used to this you know,” You mumble sleepily into the soft curls at Henry’s nape. You’re safe and warm, and the sheets are a soft whisper against your skin.

“I hope so,” comes the soft answer as sleep pulls you under and you drift off with the scent of Henry surrounding you and a lazy smile on your lips.


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sweet, mushing ending we all wanted. Fluff. Lots and lots of fluff. And some kissing. AND PUPPIES!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve had this written for months now, and i was going to end the story about 2 chapters before. I know there hasn’t been any smut, but it didn’t feel like it was right for this story, y’know? BUT, i will be eventually writing the missing 4 years from the end of chapter 6 and this epilogue, and those stories will have ALL of the smut. 
> 
> But for now, this is the end of this story. Thank you all so very much for reading it and commenting and coming to yell at me about it. I love you all more than you know <3

“Hey babe, I’m home!” You call through the house after closing the front door behind you. It’s been a long day and even longer week and you just want to take your shoes and bra off and flop on the sofa. Or your sunlounger in the garden. You don’t care which, as long there’s a Henry acting as a mattress underneath you. “Hen? Babe?”

You hear a deep bark coming from the direction of the kitchen, which means that the back door is open onto the garden and your boys are both outside enjoying the early Autumn sunshine. You smile softly as you kick off your shoes in the hallway thinking about how your life is so completely different from how it was 4 years ago. You remember that first day in the park meeting Kal and Henry. 

No really, it couldn’t get more different. 

After meeting in the park, then pining for each other, then Henry ‘romancing’ you, things had gotten serious pretty fast. He wasn’t wrong when he told you at the beginning that he loves deeply and he loves fiercely. Once he was sure that you were serious about being in a relationship with him (and wasn’t  _ that _ an awkward conversation after a series of epic misunderstandings….), he went all out to prove to you that he was serious about you both, and that he was in it for the long haul. You’ve never had a partner as intense or as loving, or who loves to flake out in front of the TV like Henry does. Not only that, but he’s taught you so much about yourself along the way too. It’s not just your life that’s changed,  _ you _ have too. Oh, you’re still the same awkward nerd you always have been, but Henry has helped you to see the parts of yourself that you didn’t want to look at. He’s been there to hold your hand, encourage you, hold you when you cried, and support you the whole way. You feel….new. But a new old you in a sense. You’re still you, you’re just letting yourself shine and grow under the light that Henry casts only for you. 

It had taken Henry a year to convince you to move into his house with him, something that you had been frankly desperate to do way too early on so had pushed back every time he asked. When he pointed out for the millionth time that you spent more time at his place than yours anyway, you had admitted that he had a point, and then promptly cringed at how much money you’d been wasting on rent. Henry hadn’t even waited for you to give notice to your landlord, just marched across the park in his shorts and flip flops with a bunch of folded giant IKEA bags under his arm and started filling them up. He’d even said that he’d pay your landlord to end your contract early, which you’d immediately shut down after calling him ridiculous, but not slept at your place again.

And that was that. Within the month you had officially moved into Henry’s place and it was as if you’d always been there. Moving in felt like the final piece of the puzzle had slotted into place. It felt like coming home. Sure, the last 4 years haven’t been a total cakewalk, but the good has far outweighed the bad. They’ve been 4, loving, happy, frustrating, aggravating, sometimes lonely, but ultimately amazing years.

You’re smiling as you reach the door to the kitchen and hear the now familiar tip-tap of Kal’s paws on the slate tiles before the big bear himself appears around the end of the kitchen island.

“ _POOH BEAR_!” You greet with a grin and Kal does the happy little dance that he reserves only for you, and you give him ear scritches and a kiss to the end of his nose. Then you notice that he’s wearing a collar, something that Henry doesn’t bother with when he’s at home. And not just any collar either. “Kal, why are you wearing a shirt collar and bowtie? And where’s your dad?”

Kal just boofs at you and turns to trot back outside into the garden, stopping in the doorway to turn back and make sure you’re following him. It’s getting later into the evening so the sun has already started dipping behind the horizon, and as you round the corner of the house, your breath catches in your throat. The small trees and shrubs surrounding the patio are all laced with hundreds of fairy lights and glass bottles with lit candles in them. The garden table is set with a table cloth and more candles, plus an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne resting in it. And standing next to the table is Henry, barefoot and dressed in linen trousers and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up. There’s a nervous-looking smile on his face and when you look down, you see…

“ _ IS THAT A CORGI PUPPY _ ?!” You squeal and rush over, not daring to believe that yes, that is indeed a corgi puppy settled quite happily in Henry’s huge arms. “ **_OHMYGOD_ ** , why do you have a corgi puppy? Who does he belong to? What’s his name? What the fuck is happening?!”

“OK, one thing at a time Y/N,” Henry laughs softly and then gently lifts the sleepy-looking pup towards you. Barely able to believe the little thing is real, you take him carefully and snuggle him up against your chest, desperately trying not to squeal again. “First off, yes, that’s a corgi puppy. Secondly, he belongs to you. And third and fourthly, why don’t you check his name tag and find out the answer to the other two questions?”

“He’s mine? _HE’S MINE_?!” You say breathlessly, tears beginning to sting your eyes. You’ve wanted a corgi since you were a child but never been able to. Henry knows this and your hand trembles as you reach down to see the name tag hanging from the puppy’s collar, because if Henry remembered that a corgi is your dream dog then…. “Barton. His name is Barton and he’s m..mine.”

The tears really do fall then, and you try to hide them in the soft fur of Barton’s ruff. Henry got you a corgi and named him after your favourite superhero, just like you'd always planned to. What did you ever do to deserve this man?! But as your fingers toy with Barton’s name tag you feel something else and look down again to see what it is. 

Your heart stops.

It’s a ring. 

It’s a ring with a modest diamond flanked by your birthstone on either side. And when your wide, stunned eyes snap to Henry, he’s down on one knee in front of you and everything just stops. The world stops turning, you stop breathing and time stands still as if to crystalize the moment forever. 

“I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a quite while,” Henry says softly as he reaches a hand forward to take yours that isn’t clutching Barton to your chest. “And by a while, I mean probably since you moved in and truly became a part of mine and Kal’s life, but I didn’t want to freak you out by moving too fast. And when I told a friend about your love of corgis, she mentioned that she knew someone who had puppies and it just seemed like perfect timing. Y/N, you’ve lit up my life in a way I never thought possible, made me become a better man. It’s like I found the part of my soul that I never knew was missing until you asked if you could pet Kal that morning in the park. You’re my person, Y/N and I can’t imagine you ever not being here. It’s almost like I don’t even remember my life before you arrived in it. You’re the other half of my whole, and I want to spend the rest of my life being that for you, if you’ll let me.”

“Henry….” You don’t mean for his name to slip out as a sob, but your lungs had just remembered that they need air. You grip Henry’s hand tighter, not even bothering to stop the flood of happy tears that are now streaming down your face.

"Merely the sight of her makes all things bow:

Not she herself alone is holier

Than all; but hers, through her, are raised above.

From all her acts such lovely graces flow

That truly one may never think of her

Without a passion of exceeding love,” Henry really is making this the most perfect moment. First Barton, then the ring with your birthstone and now one of your deepest loves, Dantè? “Y/N, would you bestow on me the highest honour of allowing me to become your husband?” 

Henry’s eyes are filled with tears of his own now as he asks, and you can’t form words so you just nod really hard and he grins at you before getting to his feet and pulling you in for a searing kiss that you both laugh into, careful not to squash Barton.

“You’re such a fucking sap, honestly….” You say breathlessly when you eventually pull away for air, Henry tipping his face down so that he can rest his forehead against yours.

“I did warn you that I was a hopeless romantic,” Henry grin back, both his hands cradling your face. “I did OK then?”

You don’t answer that, just huff out a laugh as you go in for another kiss. God, it’s been 4 years and you don’t think you’ll ever get tired of the taste of Henry’s lips. You lose yourselves for a few long moments before you’re brought back to reality by Kal boofing next to you both. You pull away from Henry and look down into the kind face of pooch as he smiles back up at you.

“Yes, I know Bear. We’ve got you to thank for it all,” You coo at him as you crouch down to his level. Kal gives your face a lick before turning his attention to Barton still cradled in your arms. “What do you think of your new brother then? You approve of the new pack member?”

Kal gives the tiny puppy a gentle lick, and that’s all you need to know. Carefully untying the ring from Barton’s collar, you put the little pup down and he immediately launches himself at the much bigger Kal, and then they’re both off around the garden. You grin as you watch them, Kal being chased by the tiny Barton and loving every minute of it. You stand up and are immediately engulfed by big arms from behind and Henry presses his face to the side of your neck to breathe you in. 

“You gonna put it on then Cavill?” You say as you hold out your hand, the ring settled in your palm. You feel Henry smile against your neck, then he takes your left hand and slides the ring on. It’s a perfect fit and he turns his palm up for you to rest your own on his so you can both see the ring now it’s on your finger.

“You make me so happy Y/N,” Henry murmurs against your temple, the brush of his lips sending a shiver down your spine. You both watch as Kal and Barton flop down on the grass of the lawn together, Barton wriggling himself under Kals chin to get comfy. “I’m so very glad that you stopped me so you could pet Kal that day.”

“Me too baby, me too.”


End file.
